Savages: A Novel
Savages: A Novel book cover

Savages: A Novel

Paperback – March 15, 2011

Price
$18.00
Format
Paperback
Pages
336
Publisher
Simon & Schuster
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-1439183373
Dimensions
5.5 x 0.84 x 8.44 inches
Weight
9.8 ounces

Description

“A revelation . . . Every bit as savage as its title . . . This is Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid on autoload.” —Stephen King, Entertainment Weekly " Savages will jolt Mr. Winslow into a different league...[his] most boisterously stylish crime book, his gutsiest and most startling bid for attention....full of wild-card moves....its wisecracks are so sharp, its characters so mega-cool and its storytelling so ferocious that the risks pay off, thanks especially to Mr. Winslow's no-prisoners sense of humor....The Winslow effect is to fuse the grave and the playful, the body blow and the joke, the nightmare and the pipe dream." —Janet Maslin, The New York Times “Winslow’s marvelous, adrenaline-juiced roller coaster of a novel . . . is both a departure and a culmination, pyrotechnic braggadocio and deep meditation on contemporary American culture.” —Sarah Weinman, Los Angeles Times “ Savages is Don Winslow’s best book yet—a wickedly funny and smart novel, with a ripped-from-the-headlines story that gets your pulse racing as the action unfolds. Razor-sharp plot twists, a cast of ruthless antiheroes, and of course, Winslow’s superb, adrenaline-fueled prose make this scorching, drug-infused thriller an addictive and entertaining read.” —Janet Evanovich “The stakes are extreme. . . . This is the story of love’s costs—and the acceptance of whatever that cost entails.” —Randy Michael Signor, Chicago Sun Times “ Savages is the book of my generation . . . nothing short of revolutionary, a flash grenade into the ineffectual heart of Generation Y. . . . . solidifies Winslow’s reputation as not just one of the best crime writers working today, but one of the best writers, period. Jesus Christ, this book.” —Brendan Leonard, January Magazine “Winslow is a brilliant stylist, unflinching in detail, and his books jab a fountain pen in the eye of anyone who can read one of his tomes and state with conviction that crime fiction isn't literature.” —Jason Pinter, The Huffington Post “An ultra-lean, stoner thriller….It packs a dynamic plot, sentences dripping with ``baditude'' and a singular way with language….Winslow's writing has the vigor of action painting….[his] command of vernacular is fabulous, his eye for detail sharp….Winslow's insights into drug wars are provocative, his descriptions of marijuana tantalizing.” —Carlo Wolff, The Boston Globe “A spellbinding, tour de force that is utterly impossible to put down. Savages is, bar none, the finest novel I have read in years.” —Christopher Reich Don Winslow is the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of twenty-one novels, including City on Fire , The Force , The Cartel, The Kings of Cool , Savages , The Gentlemen’s Hour , The Dawn Patrol , The Winter of Frankie Machine , The Power of the Dog , and The Border . He lives in Southern California. To learn more, follow Don on Twitter @DonWinslow or visit DonWinslow.com.

Features & Highlights

  • From the
  • New York Times
  • bestselling author of
  • The Cartel
  • ,
  • The Force
  • , and
  • The Border
  • A
  • New York Times
  • ,
  • Entertainment Weekly
  • , and
  • Chicago Sun-Times
  • Favorite Book of the Year
  • “A revelation…This is
  • Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
  • on autoload.” —Stephen King,
  • Entertainment Weekly
  • “Startling…Stylish…Mega-cool.” —Janet Maslin,
  • The New York Times
  • Ben, Chon, and O are twentysomething best friends living the dream in Southern California. Together they have made a small fortune producing premium grade marijuana, a product so potent that the Mexican Baja Cartel demands a cut. When Ben and Chon refuse to back down, the cartel kidnaps O, igniting a dizzying array of high-octane negotiations and stunning plot twists as they risk everything to free her. The result is a provocative, sexy, and darkly engrossing thrill ride, an ultracontemporary love story that will leave you breathless.

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
30%
(1K)
★★★★
25%
(865)
★★★
15%
(519)
★★
7%
(242)
23%
(795)

Most Helpful Reviews

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tiresome

Ultra hip? More like cutesie pie, not to mention over-indulgent to the point of nausea, no matter whether you're talking about drugs, sex, violence...WHATEVER. And that's all there is to the whole book. I can read about all these things without batting an eye, but this was a dead bore, and I finally gave it up. I want my money back.
8 people found this helpful
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Who wrote this??

Who wrote this book? Was it typed by a horney 14 year old boy on a cell phone? I can't get past the first ten pages of the Amazon preview. I will not be buying this book. Thanks, but no thanks.
4 people found this helpful
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Highly entertaining, but not for everyone

This book is in line with Winslow's other SoCal books with it's hip vibe and cool lingo, but not everyone will enjoy this type of writing.
It actually reads more like a movie script. Speaking of which, Oliver Stone has said to be putting up his own money to direct and make this movie, which I'm looking forward to seeing.
The plot moves fast and hard with it's cursory f-bombs, violence, gangs, drugs, and some twisted comedy mixed in. I would have preferred a different ending, but overall a really good fast paced book.
3 people found this helpful
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Why bring in Liberal bs politics

Second book I read by Winslow, 2nd book that he, for some reason, felt the need to bring in to the story his Liberal political nonsense. Added exactly zero to the story. Perhaps one of his books will feature the top 4 Dems in the country who combined couldn't fill an empty suit? Nah, too honest.
1 people found this helpful
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Depressing waste of time

I give it a 2nd star only because the writing style is okay, but the story is almost nonexistent. Pot heads, growing pot & having sex. Kept thinking it might turn into something decent. It didn't. Don't waste your time.
1 people found this helpful
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Enjoyed it thoroughly

Quick read and entertaining. Enjoyed it thoroughly. Followed up by watching the Oliver Stone movie of the same title. The movie has it's on twists and was a good watch.
1 people found this helpful
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A defining work, Don Winslow's "Savages" bridges the gap between his early thrillers and his later cartel attrocities.

Winslow has written some great crime fiction, complete with the requisite humor and irony. He has also written some very grim fiction about the drug cartels that I find unappealing. This book is right on the cusp. Some gruesome scenes punctuate this novel (which lapses from prose to poetry on numerous occasions) but they do not overwhelm it. Watered down a bit for the film version (no happy ending here) this book is pure Winslow. I love Bobby Z, Frankie Machine and Winslow's other early works. I dislike the unrelenting violence of the cartel books. Savages is Winslow at his peak. This is his most memorable work. Read it! Own it! Try not to live it.
1 people found this helpful
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Not so much Savage as Vapid

"Spare, clipped expository prose and hip, spot-on dialogue..." Spare, maybe-- but tries way, way too hard to be cool. The protagonists aren't remotely interesting, even in a train-wreck Bret Easton Ellis kind of way, and the female character "O," though I think he intends her to be some mystic embodiment of love and sexuality or something or other, is a joke that doesn't even manage to rise to the level of offensive. It reads more like a fantasy than a thriller; Winslow is too enamored with his characters and their "lifestyle" to make this more compelling, which is the only way to explain a world in which a stoner and an ex-Navy Seal last more than one day on the bad side of a Mexican drug cartel.

If you're on a plane, and it's this or staring at the seat ahead of you, you could do worse.
1 people found this helpful
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Not even close to being Don Winslow's best!

I really like Don Winslow. The guy can write and I've loved everything he has written until Savages.
It is the story of two Southern California drug dealers. These guys grow and sell the best weed in history. They are so successful that the Baja Cartel tries to take their business. The guys refuse. So the cartel kidnaps their girlfriend. (Yes, they share her) The guys come up with a plan to get revenge and the girl back.
The story isn't the problem with Savages. Winslow likes to switch writing styles with each book. With this one he uses a stream of concious style that is just annoying. It takes away from story. I'm not really sure how to describe it. A few parts are even writen like a movie script. Another chapter is nothing but a list of stores in a mall. The list is even in alpbetical order.
This would have been a much better book if Winslow would have written it in a straightforward way.
1 people found this helpful
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Damn right and well deserved, Don Winslow.

Satire serves best to describe the drug wars--a much remarked, ongoing, and profitable tragedy. No wonder Oliver Stone saw the value in Savages. Book to movie. Damn right and well deserved, Don Winslow.
1 people found this helpful